Author Archives: Pemba Tsering

Shopping for clothing safely during the covid pandemic

It’s been months since we have been quarantined at home. The only time we have been out being just to shop for groceries and everything other thing was bought online. Now, states are opening slowly with strict COVID protocols. Even retail stores selling non-essentials goods like apparel and accessories are opening up. But the truth is that the pandemic has also attacked us mentally and the fright of COVID will be there for a long time, so much so that even with all precautions, compulsory sanitation and strict rules, people are still not comfortable stepping out into a store to shop again.

An average of just 35 per cent of shoppers is willing to shop at stores and malls. Out of this 35 per cent, 60 per cent of females and 52 per cent of males would not like to use the trial room. Even with the majority of people not wanting to shop at stores, there are still a few who are comfortable walking into a store and even try the clothes before paying for them. This small group of people are the ones who believe that post-COVID, if protocols like sanitization, wearing masks and keeping the number of people limited are followed, then there is nothing to worry about while shopping at a store or vising a shopping mall.

If you really want to shop for clothes by physically feeling and trying them at a regular walk-in store, but are still in dilemma whether it is safe or not, some somethings can help you by keeping you safe thus eliminating the risk factor of getting COVID. Below is all that you need to know of the way things have changed post-COVID.

Is trying clothes safe?

The majority of the stores that have become operational have kept the dressing or trial rooms closed. Still, some are allowing the shoppers to try before they buy. Is this step taken by selected store right or wrong is up to one’s discretion but if you do come across such store, then move on at your risk is what experts say. How long does the virus survive on fabric is not known as there has not been an in-depth study on this. Since we are talking about a virus here, it is to be noted that if an infected person touches the fabric, then the spread of the virus will be only by touching your face or eyes after coming in contact with the compromised fabric. The best is to avoid trying anything that comes in contact with the face and eyes, this includes sunglasses and scarves too. Always sanitize your hands before and after trying the clothes.

What should you carry when moving out to shop at a shopping mall or store?

Nearly all stores are ready with hand sanitisers for customers. But carrying one with yourself is always a good idea. Just in case the store has run out of stock then you are ready with your own. As per the CDC, at least 60 per cent alcohol is a must in a sanitiser and it must be used both before entering the store and after leaving the store.

Apart from the sanitiser, CDC says that wearing a mask is a must while you shop at a public place to avoid getting infected and also to avoid spreading COVID if you are infected.

Apart from sanitiser and mask, you should also carry sanitizing wipes as CDC advises to wipe areas that are touched most of the time to be wiped regularly. These areas include knobs or handles of all the doors and windows, wardrobe and drawer pull and more. Many stores and malls have professional teams that keep on sanitizing all such areas, still carrying one with yourself will mean more precautions.

Is sanitizing new clothes necessary?

As per the CDC, there is no need to worry about getting the virus to your homes when shopping for new products. All the stores are following very strict procedures to sanitize the store and the goods sold. You do not need to sanitize new clothes. But if you are still worried, then you can simply keep it out for a few days as coronavirus can survive for a maximum of 72 hours on surfaces.

I am still not sure to shop at a store again, what to do?

If you are still worried and would not like to shop in a store in person, there is nothing to worry about it. You can shop for anything and everything online. From clothes to shoes to activewear and more, just visit any online store and shop to get the products right to your doorstep.

Has COVID-19 changed consumers shopping habits?

The past several years have witnessed the growth of the eCommerce market globally. Above that, the COVID-19 pandemic has played a very huge role in multiplying the growth to a great extent. The growth rate of online revenue year-over-year has been 70% in the U.S and this has suddenly shot up to 144% during the COVID-19 pandemic. Protocols like social distancing and staying home as much as possible has made visiting physical stores limited and in turn, made consumers turn online as the means to shop for their needs.

Even as the country has started to open up, the habit of shopping online will stay. Physical stores have to adjust and make changes necessary to accept the e-way of shopping. Below are the shopping norms that have been changed during the pandemic and their effects on us.

1: Shopping means in-store

The COVID-19 pandemic ensured that every consumer including those who did not like the idea of shopping online had to accept that shopping from home is the new normal. Consumers have finally understood the value and importance of shopping online. Not to forget the online stores like Amazon, Walmart and others have also played an important part in building trust and doing their best to serve the consumers.

So now what’s next for multichannel brands? The multichannel brands will have to move towards eCommerce and have to shift more resources towards the digital way of shopping. They will need to prioritize consumer engagement and creating a customized eCommerce strategy for the best online shopping experience for customers.

2: Branded products are always the best

During a situation like a pandemic, everything changes. This is also true for shopping habits and beliefs. Below you will see how the wants and demands of online shoppers have changed due to COVID-19. What consumers wanted then and what they want now:

Before COVID-19 pandemic:

  • 49% of shoppers priority was good quality.
  • 45% of shoppers priority was a reasonable price.
  • 28% of shoppers priority was a reputed brand.

Today:

  • 50% of shoppers priority is the availability of the product.
  • 37% shoppers priority was a reasonable price.
  • 32% of shoppers priority was good quality.

Now that states are beginning to reopen, multichannel brands must be aware of the fact that they could very well lose business to a competitor if theirs isn’t in stock. To win in a post-pandemic world, it’s critical to optimize inventory management, highlight product benefits, and build a convenient digital shopping experience. Even if you’re competing against a brand-name juggernaut, you might be able to win on availability alone.

As things are getting back to normal, brands need to be aware that inventory management is going to play a very important role for them to sustain. As mentioned above price and quality no longer matter as long as the product is available.

3: Not stocking up products

Post pandemic, shoppers have started to stock up products as a precautionary measure .. “just in case”. The shortage of just about everything during COVID-19 has brought about this change in human behaviour. When COVID-19 struck us, there was a sudden rise in demand for household necessities, grocery items and above all alcohol. Items like canned food, sanitisers and tissues, all are now stocking it more and more.

Good brands that never expected such a rise in demand found themselves lost with no supply, empty warehouses causing products to be labelled as out-of-stock. Some brands did not experience the surge in demand but as we all know that COVID is far from over and there is a high possibility of a repeat in product demand. All brands should start on getting their supply chain rolling, as stocking up is now the trend preparing for the “what if” that still lingers in everyone’s mind.

COVID-19 has brought about a drastic change in the way one shops. This change happened at the time of the pandemic chaos. It is said that changes that happen during such global crises is irreversible and well adopted by all.

COVID-19 Pandemic effect on online business. What’s next?

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a huge change in the way people shop around the world. With the spread of the virus, drastic steps were taken where many countries were under lockdown for months. This caused consumers to move more towards online shopping. Though there has been a rising trend towards online shopping from the past few years, this kind of rise in the eCommerce sectors graph was never witnessed before.


This sharp rise in favour of online sales has raised questions on the prospects of brick and mortar stores. Has the pandemic changed consumers shopping behaviour for good or is this just an act based on what’s the best today? Is there any hope for getting back to “normal”, if not then what steps should sellers take to sustain in the future?

The coronavirus pandemic has hit every business very hard. Setting up an online business with the best payment gateway is one of the ways to move ahead.

What role did COVID-19 play to make people move to the online shopping mode?As per the World Trade Organization, the implementation of lockdowns and following the social distancing rules has been the biggest factor to change peoples shopping behaviours and chooses the e-mode. This has resulted in a very sharp rise in sales for Business to Consumer (B2C) and more traffic in other eCommerce activities.

Special websites have lots of information on the effect of COVID-19 on eCommerce business. The data when compared using a yearly filter has shown that the eCommerce business has grown over 100% in many cases. Data has been driven taking into account both regular retailers and online stores.

This sort of rising in online sales was very much bound to happen when shoppers had no chance to shop in person. Even though online sales have risen, this does not happen for all eCommerce sectors.

What are the effects of this pandemic on different industries?
The biggest spike in online sales has been for essential products mainly being food and beverages. Apart from this other product that falls under the essential category and has seen a big rise in sale and demand are medical supplies like masks, gloves, pain and cough medicines.

As the initial scare passed, people moved on to buying other goods online too as they realised how safe it was this way.

Many online stores came up with new categories like “all essentials” and that included selected products from the main category Health and fitness, Electronics, Toys and hobbies, Home improvement, Office supplies, Beauty and cosmetics, Telecommunications, Internet, Mobile data services and Housewares to name a few.

The products listed in the above categories have seen a rise in online sales during the past few months and it continues. Subscription-based services like Netflix has also seen an increase in the number of subscribers.

The sectors that faced major drops are Tourism, Luxury and Fashion.

Even though the list of big looser seems to be less but they have lost a lot in revenue. It is estimated that an approximate €45 billion declines in the sale last year for these sectors.

How are small and mid-sized businesses coping with the pandemic situation?
The pandemic has slowed down the past few months and there is a sudden surge again. Businesses now have the chance to tweak their online presence. Having a user-friendly optimized website is very important for a good online presence. To support this, being visible in social media and other online advertising media is very necessary.

The best place to start is browsing through the resources and tools by Google that has been released to help small businesses during this Covid pandemic. There are free digital training resources that can help one manage elements of an online store.

Irrespective of the situation, a good payment gateway is always a must to get more customers
The main key for a successful online store is the perfect payment gateway. Shoppers leaving a cart and not going ahead to make payment is a big cause of concern for numerous eCommerce merchants. Generally, the reason for this is limited payment options or a very complex payment procedure.

A good payment gateway isn’t only important for the customer experience; it helps make your operations efficient too. Your gateway should be easy to implement and reduce the time and effort it takes to manage customer payments.

Having a good payment gateway is not only important in terms of gaining customers, but it also helps in efficient operations from the merchant point of management. The implementation time should be minimal and at the same time management of customer, payments should be very smooth.

The pandemic is still not over and we all need to be safe. One of the ways to stay safe is staying home. Shopping online can help in this in a big way.

Looking for the Handiest Wallet to Serve the Purpose

Men usually don’t look into minute details in a wallet. A wallet for a man is generally something to keep cash and a card. But the fact is that it’s very important to select the right wallet to compliment a man’s personality and budget.

Below is a list of factors that should be considered while shopping for a Men’s Wallet:

Neat looks – Carrying a neat and clean wallet brings out the character of a man. A man’s etiquette and dressing sense is usually judged by the appearance of the wallet he carries. Matching the wallet with the outfit makes all the difference.

Size – An oversized wallet is a big no. There is a tendency to collect paper, bills etc in the wallet. There should be cleared thus making the wallet lighter. A huge wallet loaded with pieces of stuff of no use makes it bulky and with it in the trousers pocket can spoil the looks.

As an Investment – Shopping for a good wallet is like an investment. It is a good personality trait. Buying a good leather wallet is recommended. The quality of the leather should be from a good source. There is much cheap quality leather and is not at all recommended. A wallet is an investment that carries your money and proper investment in it from a reputed brand is compulsory.

Colours – For a wallet, selecting the right colour is important. The colour of the wallet has to be selected keeping your job profile and designation in mind. You cannot carry a bright coloured wallet if you are at a high post in a reputed company. For such people, dark colours in the shades of black, grey and brown are the best.

Features – Apart from the looks, the functionality has to be considered too. If you like to keep every denomination of notes systematically, then you should choose a wallet with many compartments. Some wallets will have a separate section to hold coins, memory cards and SIM cards too. For those carrying many cards, the wallet should have dedicated slots to hold these. A transparent pocket can help in keeping your ID cards. A bi-fold wallet is good for those who travel and move around crowded places.

The above few points will help in choosing the right wallet making your purchase a worthwhile investment.

Coupon Codes for Dummies

Coupon Codes are also termed coupons, promo codes, promotional codes, voucher codes and discount codes. These are alphanumeric strings that are provided by online stores to lure shoppers to buy at their online store. This is one of the most well-known marketing tricks. The discount can be applied to a single product or a specific category of products or even as a sitewide offer. This post will explain how coupon codes work.

How do Coupons Work?

Primarily, one has to know that a discount is provided to an online shopper using a coupon code. This discount can be in the form of a fixed amount or a percentage of the price of the product. Apart from the discount, coupon codes can also be an offer for the free shipping of the parcel. The main intention here is to give the shopper a reason to buy from the store.

What makes Coupon Codes Work?

A store issues a coupon code to lure customers to shop from their website. This turns out to be a win-win situation for the buyer and seller. The buyer gets the product at a discount and the seller completes a sale.

Apart from getting new customers, coupons can also be a great tool to get back old customers. The simple reason is that any offer is welcome for a buyer and it creates an impact on a buyers shopping pattern. It a common human nature to feel happy when they use a coupon and this creates a bonding with the store.

How to use a Coupon Code?

After the promotion code is entered during checkout, the discount amount is automatically calculated and the shopping cart value is updated. There is always a condition attached to the coupon code, for example, if the discount offer is 20% then it might have the condition that the minimum cart value has to be $80 or more. By this, it means that the coupon code is only valid if the shopping cart total is $80 or more. The coupon can be attached to a specific product or a product or a category.

Multiple Coupon Codes

A store can give out multiple offers and coupons. This gives customer options. Here the example of multiple coupons can be as follows:

  • 10% off Entire Order
  • 20% Off on Orders above $150
    Multiple offers like these can help a store sell more and in turn, helps the customer save more. As mentioned above, this too is a win-win situation for both.

Types of Coupon Codes

Nowadays there are numerous types of coupons that are released by sellers. Three of the most common ones are explained below:

Public Coupon Codes: These codes can be redeemed by anybody. Any shopper can find this coupon and used it to get an instant discount on their purchases. These are usually released by sellers to lure new customers and get existing customers to come back and shop again.

Private Coupon Codes: These codes are given out by sellers to a selected group of customers. Its usually given to loyal customers for a specific deal. The code may be applicable for buying a product the first time.

Restricted Coupons: These are special codes that are created specifically for one customer and cannot be used more than once. These are sent to specific customers on their special days, like Birthdays or Anniversary. It can also be sent to a customer in the event of a delay in delivery as well as a thank you for shopping at the store.

This post is just to give you a basic idea of the functioning of a coupon code and the benefits of using these both from the point of view of the buyers and as well as the seller.